THEY have helped numerous Warrington bands get a foot on the music industry ladder, including Viola Beach.

But now Ady Hall and Lee McCarthy from Sugar House, based at St Helens’ Catalyst Studios, also have a gateway to the wider music industry in London.

Sugar House has joined the producer roster of renowned management companies 140db and Big Life. 140db specialises in the careers of producers including Flood, who has worked with U2, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails, and Steve Osborne, known for his collaborations with Elbow, Doves and Happy Mondays.

Big Life has helped develop the sound of the likes of Snow Patrol and Scissor Scissors.

Ady, who recorded Viola Beach’s self-funded single, Swings and Waterslides, with Lee, said: “The greatest thing about it is the amount of contacts we’ve gained.

“Through them we’ve been introduced to so many managers, labels, radio pluggers and booking agents and by association it’s allowing us to help all the bands we work with because it opens the door. Because we’re working on things up north they like the fact we can develop a band and only send them to London when they’re ready. They’ve also said there is now a lack of bands in London. The scene’s gone very urban hip hop. Whereas we’re in the middle of Liverpool and Manchester so we’re right in the thick of it.”

Musicians Ady, 38, and Lee, 36, set up Sugar House at the end of 2008. They specialise in working with unsigned bands who are on the cusp of taking on the music industry.

Ady added: “We’ve both had an experience where you go and spend your money but the person on the other side of the glass doesn’t care about you’re doing.

“So instead of pressing record and taking a band’s money we wanted to make the difference between a demo and a record and make the band question what they’re doing a bit.”

Warrington artists they have worked with so far include Viola Beach, Floral Scene, Delphina Kings, Hanover and Jack Woodward.

Ady said: “We’ve definitely found our feet and probably more so over the last three or four years where we’ve noticed an upward curve in the quality of bands we’re working with and the amount of tracks that are getting picked up by Radio 1 and 6 Music.

“A lot of the bands we work also go on to sign with management, booking agents and labels.”

The first Sugar House band that got picked up on the radio was If You Like To Dance (now Delphina Kings) in 2013.

Ady added: “We spotted them in the early days and saw their potential and it’s good when they trust you enough to spend time in the studio with you.

“When they were playlisted on Radio 1 it was a massive deal. We were tuning in all the time.

“A lot of the bands we work with also go on to sign with management, booking agents and labels. There’s a band called Hanover who have links to Warrington and they’ve started working with Dave Rofe who manages Doves.

“We did a handful of singles with them and that got the attention of quite a few labels in London.

“Now, thanks to 140db and Big Life, if we’ve done a record that’s really good we’ve got a bit more clout in terms of who will listen to it and where we can send it.”

Ady said that recording Viola Beach’s Chumley Brown was one of their highlights in the studio.

He said: “That was the first thing we did with Viola Beach and we were all really excited about it.

“Viola Beach will always be an important part of our history and we think about them a lot.

“Most the general public only became aware of Viola Beach after the tragedy but up to that point we both could see they were on their way. They’d hit a lot of streams on Spotify and SoundCloud, been playlisted on Radio 1, played at Maida Vale Studios and been on stage at Reading and Leeds Festival.”